Fox Upfront Presentation 2016 Live Blog

Lethal Weapon is joining Empire on the Fox lineup in the fall – there’s a joke in there somewhere. The Exorcist is joining Hell’s Kitchen on Fridays, and Prison Break gets a midseason launch. The latest 24 reboot, 24: Legacy premieres after the network’s broadcast of Super Bowl LI, joining The X-Files and House among Fox dramas to get the best timeslot in all of TV. Fox’s Upfront presentation from New York’s Beacon Theatre, is about to start, and Donald Trump’s favorite female TV news talent Megyn Kelly is going to make a cameo — wonder what she will talk about! Starting momentarily:

Seth McFarlane kicks things off with a pre-taped video in which he tours the home of Toby Byrne, Fox ad sales chief. Wandering through the houise, he remarks on its “fancy f–king mustards. What a tool.”
Fox has always known how to attract viewers with compelling content, Seth snarks, seguing to animated video of cow getting milked and liking it — a lot. Ads on television do better than ads on digital, Seth says. “Why? No one knows,” he says.
Fox is top as combining ads with compelling content, McFarlane says as he continues to comb through Byrne’s house, ticking off names of shows such as Empire, and The X Files – and Celebrity Boxing.
“Remember that? I’m not making that up,” Seth says to all those media buyers, and just plain media, who aren’t old enough to remember. “Screech beat the shit out of Horshack – and it wasn’t even for charity!”

Somehow, McFarlane, in a nightshirt and nightcap, winds up in bed with Byrne. “Hey, want to watch Game of Thrones?” McFarlane asks. “Don’t you mean Gotham?” Byrne corrects. “Yeah – that’s what people watch on Sundays,” McFarlane snarks.

Ahead of the presentation, Fox was outside promoting Prison Break. Our Nellie Andreeva said the guys didn’t show much enthusiasm for the gig — last year, they had the bloody sorority girls for Scream Queens.

NatGeo investing in A-list talent, Byrne says, and is off to a great start with Story of God, which was the most watched series in network’s 15-year history. Ron Howard will direct the first scripted series for the network, anthology series Genius.

Taraji takes the stage: “You’re going to have a good time at Fox!” She introduces Dana Walden and Gary Newman, chairs and CEOs at Fox TV Group. Gary challenges NCIS to try to a dance number like the one media buyers just saw.

Homer Simpson snarks the Upfront, taking whacks at Empire, Walking Dead, CBS (whose audience is The “Walking Zombies”) , Netflix, Amazon and the work of Gary and Dana, aka “the latest at Fox to benefit from The Simpsons.” Audience gasps.

Very long Lethal Weapon clip is shown. Gary Newman says they’re “incredibly excited” to add to Wednesday night. Moving to Fridays, “Let’s say it: we’re going to hell.” Because Hell’s Kitchen will be followed by remake of The Exorcist, which Newman promises will “turn heads.” Yes, he went there.

Media buyers love The Exorcist clip — which is to say, it seemed to scare them half to death. “I told you it was scary,” Gary Newman smiled.
“Changing tone a bit, on Sundays – ” he pivots, getting a laugh. Clip of new Sunday live action/animated Son of Zorn. Also played well with media buyers.

Newman says don’t be surprised if you see more of Megyn Kelly on Fox beyond tomorrow’s celebrity-interview special, in which she sit down with Donald Trump, among others. Kelly comes out on stage and begins:
“Hi. Good to see all of you. Thank you Gary. You may have heard that Donald Trump and I are having a sit down.” She walks us through — again — the Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly Story:
August GOP debate. That Question. “After that, Trump was rather upset.” Blood coming from her “wherever.” A Fox News Channel star is born. She visits Trump Tower to clear the air. A primetime May sweep ratings-magnet interview is announced:
“He was more open and personal than I ever expected,” Megyn teases media buyers, promising “a few shocking moments.”
Megyn calls it an “extraordinary year for Yours Truly” – “Yours Truly” is how Kelly typically refers to self in the third person. “I hope you enjoy the special. I think you will,” she wraps.

“Just for record: Gary Newman wouldn’t last in the wild a moment longer than I would and everyone in the balcony knows exactly what I”m talking about,” Dana Walden says after Newman snarks about her survival skills while discussing network’s reality programming. “And everyone in the balcony knows exactly what I’m talking about.” Balcony is where Fox parks the press during these presentations.

Dana discusses Tuesday shows with female leads, including midseason’s The Mick, whose lead character he described as a sort of Tina Fey/Melissa McCarthy mash-up. “That one really makes me laugh,” Dana chuckled.

The Pitch, about a young woman signed to play Major League baseball, will be promoted on Fox sports networks, Dana promises. Series’ tagline “A True Story On The Verge of Happening.” Yeah, sure.
Dana confesses she teared up watching it.

“On Sunday we will be Making History,” Dana said of Fox’s midseason comedy stab at this year’s hot genre: time travel.
Media buyers applaud approvingly after the clip.
Yu’re definitely not going to see that anywhere else,” Dana jokes

Media buyers get first look at Star, Lee Daniels’ next Fox music-based series, introduced by stars Queen Latifah and Benjamin Bratt. Played big in the theater, after which girl-group at the center of the series come out and perform.
“How could we possibly top that?” Gary Newman says, calling it a wrap.